Fred Astaire drew laughs back in the Thirties with his song “Let’s Call the Whole Thing Off” in which the lovers can’t agree on the pronunciation of words like either, neither, and tomato. On a personal level, I cringe when I hear someone sound the “t” in often or pronounce pecan with a short “a,” … Read more
When I was about ten years old, my aunt gave me a subscription to a Disney comic. I remember one issue in which Donald Duck and his nephews had a treasure map. Overheard saying that he was “in search of buried treasure,” Donald tried to deceive the villain who’d heard him by claiming that what … Read more
My son gave me a mystery the other day. He’d encountered the author at Barnes and Nobles and, having chatted with the man, he felt bound to buy a copy of his book. We’ll call the writer Author X. Under the attractive dust jacket, the sturdy binding is stamped with the title and author’s name … Read more